The present disclosure relates to a sheet feed apparatus that feeds a sheet, and an image forming apparatus and an image reading apparatus including the same.
Conventionally, an openable and closable manual sheet feed tray mounted in a main body of an image forming apparatus has been known as a sheet tray on which a sheet is placed. The manual sheet feed tray is opened with respect to the main body of the apparatus, and a sheet is placed on the manual sheet feed tray. The sheet is conveyed into the main body of the apparatus by a sheet feed roller, and an image is formed on the sheet.
In a conventional manual sheet feed tray, a sheet is fed by a sheet feed roller disposed at a central portion in a sheet width direction. In this case, the sheet is fed stably while being held by the sheet feed roller at a central portion of the sheet in the sheet width direction. Each end portion of the sheet in the sheet width direction is free from the holding force of the sheet feed roller and therefore displaceable in a direction intersecting a surface of the sheet. In this case, the end portion of the sheet may enter a gap between the manual sheet feed tray and the main body of the apparatus, and the sheet may be bent or defectively fed.